


To Save A Dragon

by Severina



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Community: lands_of_magic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 23:49:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3915280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There are many ways to be a hero, Belle. You'll understand that when you are older."</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Save A Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of those stories where I've gone over it and over it and I'm just not satisfied but it appears that this is the best I can do. So fly free, little story. Fly free. (Written for LJ's lands_of_magic for their "mothers day" prompt.)
> 
> * * *

"Mmm," Belle murmured to herself as she closed the book slowly, one hand lingering over the leather binding before she rose from the divan to replace it on the shelf.

"You look content," her mother said, glancing up from where she was curled in a chair with her own book. "Did they get their happily ever after, my dear?" 

"Yes, I think they did," Belle answered. "The dragon was vanquished and the princess was rescued. I suppose the knight was suitably heroic."

Collette's brow arched. "Suitably?"

"Well," Belle said, "he fought bravely. But I can't help but wonder how different the story would have been had the princess been taught how to fight herself instead of having to wait around in the castle for the prince to get there. Or," Belle continued excitedly as a new thought arose, "why not try to find out why the dragon is so angry all the time? Learn to communicate with it instead of assuming it's evil. Maybe it's hurt or injured. Perhaps it had merely run out of food!" 

"And that would make it all right for the dragon to eat the townspeople?"

"If the townspeople spent all their time trying to stick a sword in my chest, I'd want to eat them too," Belle said stubbornly.

"Oh, Belle," Collette said with a laugh.

"You have such strange notions, pet," her father put in.

Belle frowned as she strolled along the bookshelves, craning her neck to see the volumes on the higher shelves – the ones she wasn't allowed to touch yet, which of course made them the most intriguing of all. "When I'm grown," she announced, "I'm going to learn how to protect myself and I'm going to save others, too. And I'm not going to wait around in some cold dark castle to get rescued, either."

"When you're grown," Maurice said smoothly as he closed his ledger and rose from his desk, "your mother and I will make a suitable match for you among one of the knights of Avonlea. You will marry and have children, and have a happy life."

Belle scowled when her father bent to press a kiss to her temple; folded her arms across her thin chest as she watched him stroll from the room. "I don't want to marry some stupid knight," she muttered under her breath. 

"Belle," her mother soothed.

"I don't," Belle said crossly, only just stopping herself from stamping her foot. "I want to be a hero!"

"There are many ways to be a hero, Belle. You'll understand that when you are older," Collette said. "Sometimes the victory is over a dragon – whether you save it or slay it. And sometimes the victory is much smaller, indeed. But whatever happens when you are a woman, I know that you will be smart and strong and brave and you will forge your own path. I know you will make me proud."

* * *

Belle watched as the sparrow took flight, strong wings carrying it quickly above the treetops behind the house. She watched until the bird was merely a speck on the horizon.

"You set him free," Rumple said from behind her.

Belle nodded and leaned back into his arms. "His wing was healed. He didn't need me anymore. It was time to let him go."

He must have sensed her melancholy, because his grip tightened around her. "I'm sure he'll be fine." 

"Yes," Belle agreed. She turned in his arms, pressed a quick kiss to his lips before leaning back and wrinkling her nose. "Not quite a dragon," she mused.

"Even in my imp days the worst I ever got was 'crocodile'," Rumple mock-pouted.

"Not you, silly," Belle said with a laugh. "Something my mother once told me." She shook her head at his look of confusion. "Never mind. That little one will be fine. This little one, on the other hand," she continued, releasing her hold on his waist to rub at her protruding belly, "is quite hungry. I believe you were going to make us breakfast?"

Rumplestiltskin's hand folded over hers, and though the baby didn't oblige him with a kick he looked as happy as if it had. "Anything for you, my love."

She took his hand as he led her back into the house; to her sun-washed kitchen, her study and the neatly stacked pages of her half-finished novel, her overstuffed chair with the extra pillows. Her happily ever after.


End file.
